When you cook a big family dinner, filling your kitchen with bubbling pots of pasta and casserole pans with baked-on cheese, do you trust your dishwasher to clean those dishes when it’s all over, or do you spend hours soaking, scrubbing and washing them by hand? If you’re getting wrinkly fingers standing over the sink while your family chills in front of the television or you’re still pre-rinsing dishes before loading the dishwasher, there’s good news. There’s a little-known dishwasher compartment that does the dirty work for you. It’s the pre-wash compartment, and it can be a little hard to spot. It’s designed to hold the detergent for the initial cleaning phase that helps loosen the stuck-on food and grease before the main wash cycle starts. Take a peek at the inside of the door or wherever you add your dishwashing liquid, powder or pod. As indicated in the photo below, there’s a tiny indentation on top of the main wash compartment.
Some dishwashers have a deeper, narrower slot next to the main compartment. It has no locking door or flap because it doesn’t need to wait for a door to pop open later. Just put a little extra liquid or powder dishwashing detergent in the compartment. When we say “little,” we mean it — most barely hold a teaspoon. Do not, however, try to cram a pod in there, as this compartment is not designed for pods. The pre-wash compartment works great, and you won’t have to worry about pre-rinsing.
